AI in Sales: Crafting Perfect Copy With Intelligent Prompts

Sales professionals are increasingly leveraging the power of AI to enhance their outreach efforts. With the rise of generative AI models, Sales Development Representatives (SDRs) can now craft personalized messages with precision and scale. 

This article delves into the transformative impact of AI in sales, offering insights into prompt engineering, the anatomy of effective sales prompts, and practical tips for harnessing the capabilities of ChatGPT for sales success.

Here’s Why SDRs Need To Understand Prompt Engineering

Companies are increasingly integrating chatbots within their proprietary knowledge base to train the bot to retrieve company-specific information on command. While some enterprises use the OpenAI API to train ChatGPT, others are building proprietary chatbots or virtual assistants to help SDRs and customer service reps retrieve information in real-time. A centralized knowledge base that can be queried using natural language ensures accurate, up-to-date information is shared across the organization. 

Secondly, most leading business intelligence and CRM software solutions feature a generative AI component that enables non-data professionals to query databases using natural language. For example, a sales rep could log on to a BI platform and ask, “How many discovery calls did I book last month?” or “Which marketing-qualified leads should I contact next?” and receive an answer as plain text or a data visualization. 

Anatomy of a Sales Prompt

Prime ChatGPT before you start prompting it. Sharing the following context avoids generalized responses and emphasizes your company’s unique value proposition.  

1. State your role – “I am a sales development representative at a CRM software company.”
2. Describe the industry – “My industry caters to medium-sized and large enterprises seeking to obtain a 360-degree view of their customer using CRM software.” 
3. Provide details about the company you work for – “My company positions itself as a trusted partner. Our value proposition is unparalleled customer support by having a dedicated customer success manager for each account.”
4. Detail the solution you offer at a high level (eg: product features, use cases) – Discuss who uses the product, what pain point it solves for them, and what features make your solution unique compared to competitors. 
5. Describe your ideal customer – Include information such as the industry, company size, job title, and pain points of your target audience. You can also copy-paste information from their website or LinkedIn bio to craft more personalized messages. 

Software Sales Prompt Examples

Crafting Sales Emails Using ChatGPT

In your prompt, specify the purpose of the email (eg: initial outreach, follow-up, reminder, promotion), the recipient (eg: “Founder of a Series A tech startup”), and the desired outcome (“Encourage the recipient of this email to book a software demo by offering an enticement”).

You can also ask ChatGPT to help you better understand your target customers and what matters most to them. Then, you can prompt it to generate a more personalized email. 

In the example below, I asked ChatGPT to create a user persona for the CTO of a medium-sized ecommerce company.” 

How To Write Lead Prospecting Emails Using ChatGPT

• Initial outreach email – Cold emails are the first contact where the SDR introduces themselves to the prospect, and mentions what they’re offering. It’s important to pique their curiosity and make a positive first impression. 

Prompt: “Introduce our innovative software solution to potential leads. Highlight key benefits and features that align with their industry and needs.”

Details to provide: Share information about your customer. What is their industry? What is the company size? Are they a small business or large enterprise?

• Industry-specific pitch: Personalized outreach emails are typically intended for warm leads—those who’ve shown interest in your offering by downloading a whitepaper, for example. Personalize the email by explaining how your value proposition solves their problem. You can also use this strategy for cold outreach if you know something about the company or industry that you could use to personalize the email. 

Prompt: “Craft a personalized email for leads in [specific industry] explaining how our software can address common pain points they face. Highlight success stories or relevant use cases.”

How To Write Cold Emails Using ChatGPT

• Value proposition email – Elaborate the benefits of your solution in helping the customer reach their goals. Emphasize product features most relevant to their use case. 

Prompt: “Compose an email that succinctly communicates our software’s unique value proposition. Emphasize how it can solve specific challenges for the recipient’s business.”

Additional details to include: “Mention how our solution seamlessly integrated with an ecommerce company similar to theirs, resulting in a 40% reduction in website loading times, a 25% increase in conversion rates, and a robust defense against cyber threats that preserved customer trust.”

• Common pain points: Empathizing with a client’s pain points positions you as a capable problem-solver and lets you propose a tailored solution for the customer’s unique situation. 

 Prompt: “Address common pain points in [industry/role] and explain how our software can provide solutions. Use real-world examples to demonstrate the benefits.”

Optional details to include: Mention specific pain points known to your customer, such as scaling website performance, integrating complex third-party tools, and orchestrating seamless omnichannel experiences. 

How To Write Follow-Up Emails Using ChatGPT

•  Initial follow-up: Follow-up emails gently remind the customer of your initial outreach. Reiterate your commitment to finding a personalized solution for them. Ask if they prefer a different mode of communication (eg: a phone call) and offer resources to learn more about your company on their own time, such as a pre-recorded demo or whitepaper. 

Prompt: “Write a gentle follow-up email for leads who haven’t responded to the initial outreach. Reiterate the key benefits and offer to address any questions or concerns.”

Additional details to include: Copy-paste the prior email so ChatGPT can write copy reiterating salient points while ensuring relevance. 

• Value reinforcement email: Remind your customer why your solution is better than your competitors. Reiterate product features and value-added services such as technical support and after-sales care. 

Prompt: “Send a follow-up email that reinforces the value of our software. To build credibility, include testimonials, case studies, or recent success stories.”

• Offer of Assistance: Establish yourself as a trusted partner by offering to help the customer with a problem they’re facing. For example, you could offer a free, no-strings-attached 1:1 consultation or personalized demo. 

Prompt: “Craft a friendly email offering assistance or a personalized demo to address any doubts or questions the recipient might have.”

Social Selling Using ChatGPT

SDRs often generate leads by interacting with prospects on LinkedIn. They position themselves as thought leaders by regularly posting engaging content, commenting thoughtfully on others’ posts, and offering to share their expertise without strings attached. ChatGPT can assist with ideation and expedite content creation.

• Develop a content strategy – ChatGPT can help you brainstorm ways to engage your audience. 

Prompt: “Develop a content strategy to find prospective customers on LinkedIn. What type of content should I post on LinkedIn? How often should I post?”

• Write social media posts – ChatGPT can help you write social media posts about industry news, product updates, and tips relevant to your audiences’ interests. You can ask the bot to summarize the main points of a report, or copy-paste a paragraph from a news report about your industry and ask it to generate a social media post. 

Tip: You can also use Bing-GPT to summarize articles if you access them using the Microsoft Edge browser. This is preferable for articles that are too long to copy-paste into ChatGPT. 

Prompt: “I found this article on ecommerce strategy. I want to share it with my followers on LinkedIn. Highlight the most interesting statistics about customer retention. End the post by briefly mentioning  our customer retention software.” 

• Respond to comments on posts – Write personalized, thoughtful comments that add to the overall commentary of the post or advance the discussion. Commenting on others’ posts increases your visibility on LinkedIn because it boosts the likelihood of someone clicking on your profile while also generating a post in your connections’ newsfeeds.

 Prompt: “Respond to this LinkedIn post [copy-paste text here] in a casual tone and end with a question.”

Tip: It’s best to copy-paste the text directly rather than simply providing a link. ChatGPT often misconstrues the contents of a social media post if you only provide a link. Avoid posting responses that seem canned or contain redundancies (eg: “Great post, Greg!” or “Thanks for posting!”). 

Responding to Product Feature Inquiries Using ChatGPT

SDRs receive numerous questions about product features, use cases, and pricing. While most of this information is readily available in the knowledge base, you still have to contextualize it for that specific inquiry. Instead of combing through knowledge-base articles and rewriting the information in an email, chatbot response, or LinkedIn message, you can simply copy-paste sales copy from your website, sales brochure, product page, or knowledge-base article into ChatGPT and ask it to answer your customer’s questions.

• “What are the pros and cons of using our low-code graphic design software?”
• “Explain if this software is suited for small businesses with under 10 employees and why.”
• “Here is a list of product features for our ERP software. Highlight which features a VP of sales would find most valuable and explain why.”

Preparing for Objection Handling and Closing

After training ChatGPT on your product, industry, and ideal customer profile, you can ask ChatGPT to generate a list of potential objections prospects might raise during a sales call. 

Next, you can ask ChatGPT to suggest ways to handle those objections. Ask it to pull relevant facts and data from your knowledge base, or upload your sales brochure to ChatGPT. Most people are skeptical and have questions. They are not ready to buy without being informed, so objection handling is an important part of the sales process. 

Prompt: “What are common objections when purchasing X product/service that does Y? Explain how to overcome those specific objections and encourage someone to buy.”

Tips for Using Generative AI for Software Sales

Always treat ChatGPT’s output as a template or starting point. You must customize your messaging. ChatGPT is known for sounding cold and unemotional—not the impression you want to strike with a prospective customer.

If something doesn’t sound right, you can generate multiple message variations based on the same output by hitting the ‘Regenerate’ button or providing feedback and asking ChatGPT to rewrite the message. You still have to use your expertise as an SDR and understanding of the customer to write on-point prompts and tailor the output it gives you.

• Tailor prompts to target customer segments

Each customer segment requires different messaging. This means varying the tone of your email and frontloading the details most important to them. When prompting the AI to generate content, including details about the intended audience and desired outcome. 

• Use persuasive language and storytelling

ChatGPT’s output is often dry and factual. However, the sales process hinges on captivating storytelling. Sales is a high-touch process, and ChatGPT doesn’t have common sense, emotional intelligence, or originality. 

• Simplify technical concepts

If you offer a highly technical product that is difficult to understand, you can ask ChatGPT to explain it to a non-technical audience.

Wrapping Up

The integration of AI in sales processes marks a significant shift in how SDRs approach and engage with prospects. By understanding the nuances of prompt engineering and effectively utilizing tools like ChatGPT, sales professionals can craft messages that resonate deeply with their target audience. As the landscape of sales evolves, it’s imperative for SDRs to stay ahead of the curve, leveraging AI’s potential to drive meaningful conversations and achieve desired outcomes. The future of sales is here, and it’s powered by intelligent prompts.

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